Groups of anti-vaxxers were congregated outside Orpington Station this month – but what does this term really mean?

 

The vaccine rollout program is well under way now, with almost 70% of the UK population being fully vaccinated. The aim of the vaccination is to, obviously, protect as many people from covid fatalities and hospitalisations as possible – and the numbers do not lie, with 84% of the number of patients hospitalised due to covid-19 between December 2020 and July 2021 not having been vaccinated at all (according to data from the NIMS and CO-CIN). However, not everybody is feeling so positive about this progress.

 

Groups of individuals, dubbed ‘anti-vaxxers’, who are steadfastly opposed to vaccines in general, are not a new phenomenon. But now, specifically covid-19 anti-vaxxers are appearing globally. In particular, one small group of them were found protesting outside Orpington Station, with banners, signs and leaflets, ready to hand out to the public.

 

Among the other pedestrians, a large number of the people targeted were school students on their way home. Some schoolgirls that I spoke to described them as ‘intimidating’, revealing the protestors ‘told us we were smart, and to use our heads’. The incident occurred no more than a few days before we received our vaccine through our school, perhaps deliberately timed to make people rethink their choices.

 

The information they handed out contained advice to ‘own your decision’, and employed the hashtag #safertowait to spread their message. Campaigners were swiftly moved on by the police, whose support had already been requested as a precaution, and the protestors’ efforts were clearly deterred as they have not returned since.

 

Although there is lots of information circulating at the moment, it is encouraged to make any health decisions using official, trusted sources, like the NHS website, to ensure we are all keeping safe in the pandemic.

 

Sources:

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations

https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2306